Showing the Same Damn Thing

Lily Pad and Reflections in North Vista Fountain Water at The Huntington Botanical Gardens

“…you may get it in half a roll; you may use five rolls and never get it. What I don’t understand is five rolls showing the same damn thing.” – William Albert Allard

I’ve been photographing the Huntington on a regular basis for nearly an entire year now. My goal through this has always been to push beyond the obvious and interpret the Huntington in a different way. Bill Allard’s quote rings so true to me because I see so many photographers that shoot the same stuff, the same way for years. Don’t they ever get bored? I do. I always want to evolve.

The reason why I think artists become stagnant is because once you reach a certain level of commercial success or critical acclaim it can be hard to resist that pressure to keep churning out the same work that got you to the dance. It’s like being an undefeated fighter. No one notices you at first when you are hungry then eventually people start to notice then eventually the pressure builds to a point where you stop learning and start fighting to not lose, rather than to progress.

Thanks David. It certainly doesn’t get any easier to do something different the more I visit The Huntington but that’s the beauty of it because I don’t feel a need to produce every time I go there and can just experience.